tales in the emperor's garden
by Sabishii-Kitsune
Summary: A collection of not really related AUs, short stories on meeting the people you knew before as strangers over and over again. Reliving your life may or may not be the best thing to happen to you.
1. Chapter 1

tales in the emperor's garden

_-ek-_

—

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

_-ee Cummings_

**_I_**

(first._tale_)

The emerging and dismembering of bones and memories is vertiginous.

Sharp painful knives of light behind the lids, sickening turn of one's stomach and the burning of lungs.

The Lady in suffering finds the process unbearable; heart thundering, body searing hotly, skin tearing apart.

In the dark abyss, her mouth is sewed shut and someone calls her name.

**_II_**

A burst of light jump starts everything and nothing at the same time.

Her closed lids fluttered open, chest rising with every breath she took, fingers moving, limbs stretching.

For a moment it feels like her body has been suspended in cold, dark space for a long, long time and this is the first time she is to move her body around.

Someone, from below calls her name. _Nyang!_

For a moment… everything feels foreign.

**_III_**

_Nyang! _

The voice vibrates with warmth and familiarity.

Her ears know it too well but her mind buffers for a minute, thinking: _whose name? is it mine?_

For a second—third time, the voice repeats the name, this time with a hint of urgency and a pinch of chuckle.

Her limbs moved in accordance, pulls herself upright and away from the bed.

Descends the stairs… everything is familiar again.

**_IV_**

In the kitchen, she finds her _mother_.

Cooking breakfast, a hum filling the spaces and scent of love wafting towards and under her nose.

_Nyang_ sits down on the chair by the table; her _mother _turns around with a warm smile.

All is fine. All is fine.

**_V_**

She smiles back.

Eyes crinkling, heart beating a little faster at the thought that—

This is home.

A/N: A penny for your thoughts? Tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

**_VI_**

(second._tale_)

Nyang can't remember where he saw his face. Unfamiliarly familiar.

It confuses her for a moment as she observes the man.

The park is especially filled with family today, children running about, parents sitting prettily on their picnic cloth, lovers upon the bench.

It's her first time to visit the park, to lay eyes on something entirely different than her mother's garden back home.

Nyang, at first, didn't really picked him out immediately he blends well, with the crowd—her eyes passed over him for a few times before he finally stood out. Almost like his colors is brighter than the rest, prompting him to stand out in her eyes.

Nyang observes him, wonders, what is so significant about this man that she pauses to watch as if she has all the time in the world. Subconsciously a smile graces her lips—the man laughs joyously, hefting his kid in the air whilst his wife kisses him on the cheek.

**_VII_**

Somewhere, a tug pulls on Nyang. She can't place it.

It's a whisper of sort. A thought.A far away hope and dream.

And she can't force her mind to remember it but she's glad for unknown reasons; that this man she's watching is happy with his family.

**_VIII_**

_He would've—_the face imprints itself in her memory.

Something that would take long for her to forget.

All she can think is while she walks away from the scene: this man has found his happy ending.


	3. Chapter 3

**_IX_**

(third._tale_)

Nyang's heart beats a little faster when he comes around, poking his head out of nowhere and smiling like a fool.

And there's always this indescribable familiarity (_always_) she feels when that happens. Unexplainable like the ache when she first meets Wang Yu, like the sadness when Tal Tal meets her eyes, like the same familiar disappointment with Bayan for no reason at all.

Lingering in heart long enough to disturb her but no action she does eases it.

Constantly appearing like the long itches on her back at times when Tanasiri's innocent face smiles at her, the small bubble of fear and anger when practicing judo with Tangqishi or the mixture of pity and hate towards Yom and other people she isn't even close to yet.

**_X_**

It leaves an indescribable feeling in the pit of her stomach; one she's not sure if she wants to keep or not.


	4. Chapter 4

**_XI_**

(fourth._tale_)

Hudu's hands are sticky and saccharine.

Tal Tal's face is devoid of emotion but she knows that the gears in his head are turning, moving continuously. Like a river streaming.

Her smile is sweetly, delicate clad foot prodding the miniature body on the grassy ground.

"It sang…" her voice is soft, light like a lady, "too _loudly_."

Somewhere a glass pin drops and Tal Tal has already figured out what Hudu is underneath her expensive silk and _too _polite smiles and sweet gestures.


End file.
